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Ever try to get two PNG layers to move across the screen together? Did they seem to be moving at different speeds, and no matter what you did, one remained in 1st gear while the other moved on to 2nd? It's absolutely demonic. Here's a basic explanation using a simple example with directions for fixing it:

Tony, the article is a direct result of helping one of my customers create a transition that had an irregularly shaped graphic crossing the screen, a situation where nothing less than precision would work because seeing the next slide before you should was completely unacceptable. Let that shape stray even a fraction, and the whole effect would have been trash even to the untrained eye. I'd never worked out a method I could teach to others until I took the time to document what I was doing while setting things up. You know how you work out a solution to something and then say to yourself, "Oh, I'll remember how to do it," but the next month you have to work it out again? Some of the people here have notebooks where they write everything down. Wish I'd learn from them.

I never trust to memory how I did something that I only do occasionally because I know I'll forget.

I've learned that it saves time in the long run if I keep a typed record of how I did it and where I've got to. I try to log each stage of a project. If I have to pause a project, to do something urgent, I can see where I'd got to. I don't use paper because it can't be searched and can be easily lost/buried. Of course it means you need to keep a reasonable computer filing system.

It also means every 'first time' task takes twice as long because at each stage I do it then write it up. A few months later when I need to do it for a new project I can refer to my notes and edit them if I find I missed something or the note was ambiguous or unclear. It's a drag but it's worth it to me.

I use Win7's Snipping tool to include any screen snippets that I think will be useful - 'An image is worth a thousand words.'

I also log tips and URLs that I come across and think I might need in the future. I have quite a number of THT (Tony's How To) documents in either Word or RTF format on all manner subjects. One of course is "THT - ProShow Tips.rtf" containing stuff I've picked up here and elsewhere. Building my first Drupal website produced a THT that runs to 93 pages of Word.

The job isn't done until the paperwork's complete. Your 'writing down' and sharing how you resolved this problem (plus all the other really useful info on your website) will benefit who knows how many people. Had it remained only in your memory it would only have helped you for as long as you could recall it.

Looking at your example of moving squares with the same speed I am puzzled about this problem, because I never had to deal with that issue. I assume you were talking about png layers on a transparent background with different dimensions ? If you use the same background transparent ( in this case say a 16x9 inch) on which you place the item, the two items will always travel in synchrony, no matter if you line them up or not, because you're not moving just the item, but the png. If possible I place my png's in the center of a transparent background. The reason being is that with an unlocked x and y zoom , setting the one value to 0 you will be able to "fold" the png without it moving to the right or left or up or down. If I would place a png out of center on a transparent background and then collapse it, it would shift.

Tony, you're truly dedicated! How do you even find the time to document everything?!

pd -- You couldn't figure out what my problem was because I didn't have one. However, when you first used ProShow and you first encountered what happens to images with different dimensions that are set in motion, did you instantly know what was wrong and how to fix it? Most folks don't, and I imagine they appreciate such explanations.

Anita -- You must have missed the part where I explained about resizing the canvas. As for those 2 squares moving together regardless of where you place them, yes, they will. However, the article was showing how to get them lined up so all you have to do is dump them into a slide and put in the pan settings. As long as you're in an image editor where it's a whole lot easier to position things using guidelines, why fiddle around in ProShow with tiny decimals, testing until it all looks correct?

Some people just don't get it ... literally. Because they don't think about it in a way that's conducive to addressing a "problem." It's not always traveling the same distance that keeps two items aligned ... what's being aligned is also important. So, you need to know how to offset and what you're offsetting. It's the perspective that one holds that determines their understanding of the "problem."

One thing people don't realize when two items are moving together is that it's the CENTER of the LAYER from which all movement is referenced. Knowing that is helpful in understanding how to move the layers edges together. In that case, if you align the edges together so they move across the screen together what you're actually doing is offsetting the center of one layer a constant amount from the other.

If your layer is scaled by "fill frame" (and it's aspect is less than or equal to that of the show), it's width is 100%. That means that half is to the left of the screen center and half is to the right of screen center. If that layer is then zoomed to 40% then it has 20% to the left and to the right of the layer center. It also means that it's the WIDTH. So, the full width is 40 and the ProShow referenced width from layer center is 20.

If both layers are set to FILL FRAME and one is sized to 30% and the other to 40% it means that there's a difference of 10 (40 -30) between the side of one layer and the side of the other (assuming they both had the same pan setting). That means that, when measured from the layer centers, the difference is 5. Adjusting the pan-x of the smaller one by 5 will offset the centers by 5 and will result in one side of both differently sized layers being aligned as they move across the screen.

Good explanation, Dale. Certainly wouldn't be good for my beginners' articles, but it might be really good for your own blog. I could then add a link in my article to your blog entry. Kind of like, "If you'd like to know more about getting layers moving in sync, read this."